


Sacrifice

by reddies_eggos1711



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Justice for Barbara "Barb" Holland, Okay bye, Post Season 1, Pre Season 2, Will and Nancy talk, it's very much a summary of Will's time in the UD mostly, just putting this up so i don't lose it, so if that'll bore you skip this, this has not been edited in four years, upside down - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:53:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26542486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddies_eggos1711/pseuds/reddies_eggos1711
Summary: Will wasn't completely alone when he was in the Upside Down. At least for a short while.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> Just a lil fic from just after season 1 came out. what a time that was. has not been edited in four years.

“I was brought to the Upside Down and I thought I was dead, Nancy.”

_Will coughed and sputtered as he was thrown aggressively to the ground. At first glance, Will had thought he was dead, in hell even, probably for thinking about boys the way he was supposed to think about girls. What a great reason to be trapped in the depths of the underworld. As time went on and Will slowly managed to gain accessibility to his limbs, he realised that it wasn’t hell, and the throbbing pain he felt all over proved that he was still alive. Alive, but definitely not safe. He tried to stand, however clumsily and painfully. He glanced around in anxious torment, fearful that he would turn to be face to face with the ‘creature’. There was no one in sight. Will let his eyes trail across everything surrounding him. It was home. His home. But also, not his home. He looked upon the looming form of his house from where he stood in the back yard. It looked like his house, it looked like his yard, only it was dark, and everything was tinged a sort of blue colour. It was horribly intimidating, and Will couldn’t help the tears that sprang to his eyes at the realisation that he wasn’t home anymore. At least he wasn’t still being dragged by that hideous beast. Why the ‘creature’ hadn’t killed him already, Will was unsure. But he was thankful for his chance at survival. He suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine._

“It was dark. And cold. I thought I would freeze to death if the Demogorgon didn’t find me first.”

_The temperature was steadily increasing as he gained feeling to his body. There was a dead silence in the place that only made everything feel darker and colder. Will could feel himself shivering violently, and realised he needed to find somewhere warm. Maybe he should head inside the house? If anything, there would at least be some warmth in there and hopefully not another ‘creature’. However, when Will entered the copy of his home he was greeted with something even colder than before and was struck with an overwhelming feeling of loss. He shivered once again, feeling the goosebumps begin to crawl over his skin. There was an awful silence that made his footsteps sound multiple and caused him to be constantly on edge. As Will walked through the replica of his house his eyes grew sore and began to leak._

“I just wanted to sit down and cry until someone found me and took me home in their arms.”

_Will paused in the centre of the living room and looked around through blurred eyes, his arms folded tightly across his chest. The room looked identically to the one his returned home to everyday, aside from the slimy vines that crawled over everything and the absence of light anywhere. Will’s head hurt, his body ached, and he felt himself slowly freezing over. He dropped to the floor in a dramatic flop and sobbed. He hugged his knees to his chest and shielded his eyes. He didn’t want to look at anything anymore. He wanted this to all be a dream. For him to wake up in his own bed being forced to get ready for school. He just wanted this to be over. His sobs wracked his body louder than he’d anticipated and he threw a hand over his mouth in fear that the ‘creature’ would hear him. He could feel his shaking breaths vibrate through his hand which only made him cry harder. If he could do so much as call someone, tell them he was okay –_

“That’s when I thought to try the phone.”

_It was a stupid idea. Definitely wouldn’t work. Calling the number of the phone he was calling from couldn’t do anything useful, right? But Will punched in the numbers anyway. The dial tone was different there, more crackling and staticky. It was unnerving. The call rang out for a few seconds and he was preparing to hang up the logic-defying phone – why there was electricity there, he’ll never know – before there was a loud broken voice echoing in his ear._

_“Hello?”_

_Will jolted back in fright that someone had answered, dropping the phone and accidentally cutting himself on a jagged piece of plastic as the phone fell._

_“Hello?” The voice rang out again. Will retrieved the phone cautiously, whilst studying his slightly bleeding finger. “Lonnie?” It was his mother._

_Will’s eyes teared up again, this time in joy, and he opened his mouth to say something, when a noise was heard in the distance. The ‘creature’. Something wasn’t right. It was coming back, Will realised. He had to hide._

_“Hopper? Who is this?” His mother croaked, and Will’s breathing picked up. “Will?”_

_He had no time to rejoice the fact that his mother knew him by just his breathing. The ‘creature’ was growing closer as depicted by its growls. Will looked down at his finger and realised with a jolt of pain that the ‘creature’ must be like a shark – is attracted to blood. He didn’t know how he came to that conclusion, but it sent him into a silent frenzy._

“ _What have you done to my boy?!_ ”

_Will choked out a quiet sob into the receiver._

“ _What? What? Give me back my son! Hello? Hello, who is this? Hello? Who is this?!_ ”

“I got through to my mom, but the line cut out before I could tell her where I was. But I knew I had to hide. The Demogorgon was coming.”

_Will knew if he didn’t hide, he would live to see Hawkins again – the real Hawkins. The closest he could think of while his mind was racing at a million miles a second was the closet in his mother’s room._

_There he waited. Feeling himself slowly freeze, his breath turning foggy before his eyes, as the footsteps of the ‘creature’ echoed outside. His throat was growing tighter as the footsteps grew closer… but he was never found._

“I hid out at Castle Byers for a while, at some point while I was down there. And singing kept me sane.”

_Will didn’t know how long he had been trapped here. There was no concept of time. But he knew it had been a while. His lips had turned blue and his skin was a pasty green. He was starting to lose touch of reality and could only sing to maintain his sanity. He started to fear for his mental health when he thought he saw a girl with a shaved head wearing Mike’s sister’s old clothes. So, he would sing to himself to make sure he didn’t fall too far._

“I called her again, once I was sure it had left. This time I managed to call for her but nothing more… so I just stayed hidden. I didn’t know how long I’d been there. But one day… or hour, I couldn’t tell… I heard my mom. As though she were just in the other room. I bolted to the ‘living room’ and I could almost see her form walking around. I ran outside and realised that I could see her. As though she were really there!”

“ _Mom?” He called softly through the wall that for some reason was enabling him to see his mother. Like a portal._

_“Will?” He watched her form approach the wall the remained on the other side of. Her voice was so quiet he almost couldn’t make it out as a response._

_“Mom?” He tried again, in desperate need for clarification. “Mom?”_

_“Will!” Suddenly, the blurred form of his mother shot from the room and Will was left absently listening to the fading cries of his mother calling his name. It wasn’t much longer before she came back though, and Will breathed a sigh of relief. “Will!”_

_“Mom!” He called again, and then he was struck with an over whelming feeling that he wasn’t alone. Not in the good way._

_“Will! I’m here! I’m here!” She screeched, and Will knew she was frantically trying to tear down the wallpaper. He knew it wouldn’t work… and he could hear the ‘creature’ growing nearer by the second. Dangerously close._

_“Oh god, Mom!” There was more crinkling of wallpaper and Will couldn’t hear his mom’s calls anymore. “Hello? Mom?!”_

_The wallpaper ripped._

“And I could see her! Like looking through a thin warp film of cellophane. She was right in front of me! We kept calling out for each other as though it would bring me back when we both knew it wouldn’t. And the Demogorgon was approaching faster, Nancy. I was so scared.”

_“Mom! Mom, it’s coming!” Will warned, knowing that he was the only one in danger._

_“Tell me where you are! How do I get to you!?”_

_Will told her the only way he knew how. “It’s like home, but it’s so dark! It’s so dark and empty! And it’s cold! Mom? Mom!” The ‘creature’ was on the grounds by then, Will could tell._

_“Listen to me! I swear I’m gonna get to you, okay? But right now, I need you to hide!” She ordered him, distress clearly drawn on her face. Will could sense the ‘creature’ right near him._

_“Mom, please!” He tried one more time, seeing the wall begin to repair itself, covering his only access to his mother._

_“No, no, listen! Listen, I – I will find you, but you have to run now! Run! Run!”_

“That was the last I heard of her, before I ran. But the second the gateway to her was closed and I turned to escape, I collided with something… or someone…”

_“Will!”_

_Will tried to hold in his screams. This was the end. He’d never see his mom or his friends or Mike ever again! Because now he was at the hands of an interdimensional ‘creature’ that knew his name and for some reason sounded like a teenage girl._

_Will was too terrified to think. He just weighted himself and became drop heavy, face flowing with tears. To his surprise, the ‘creature’ grabbed him by the arms and helped him stand again. That’s when he realised that it wasn’t a ‘creature’ at all._

“It was Barb, Nancy. It was Barb.”

_“Will! Oh my god! Your alive! Thank god! I’ve been looking for you since I was brought here! I could only assume that you were brought here too!”_

_Will looked up at the girl with blurred teary vision. He choked on the sobs that still echoed around them. He trailed over her taking in her appearance. Her skin had also turned a sickly green and she looked freezing, almost as cold as he was. But the most shocking thing was the dark red blood stains that decorated her ankles and feet as though someone had taken a bite from her. Will didn’t doubt that someone probably did. He knew the girl. She was one of Nancy’s friends. Barbara, he thought her name was._

_“B-Barb?” He managed to choke out and the girl just shot him a sympathetic look._

_“Hey, I’ve got you. The monster will be here soon. I know where we can go. I go there when the monster chases me, and he hasn’t found me yet… well apart from at first when I got here.” She pointed to her feet and Will let out a shy gasp, unable to do anything more thanks to the tears that clouded his vision and his voice._

_“Don’t worry. I’ll take you.” Before Will could protest or even comprehend what was happening, Barb was lifting him up into her arms as though he were a child of three rather than twelve. But he didn’t refuse. Too tired, cold, and scared to do anything but cry. He wrapped his arms around her neck and his feet around her waist, like a reverse piggyback. Barb responded with a hushed whisper telling him that he’d be fine, and Will just cried silently into her shoulder._

“She carried me… all the way to the Upside-Down version of your place, Nancy.”

_“Okay, now, stay here and try not to make any noise,” Barb informed Will as she placed him down in a mysterious blanket fort in ‘Mike’s basement’._

_“Where… where are you going?” Will queried quietly, eyelids already feeling heavy at being placed on soft-ish grounds._

_“To find you some water. You sound horribly dehydrated.” She told him with barely a glance._

_“But what about the ‘creature’?”_

_“I know where I’m going. I was there just before. I’ll be back before you know it.”_

“She didn’t come back, Nancy. She didn’t come back. The Demogorgon… it got her.”

_Will didn’t see Barbara again. He heard her. He heard her scream. Scream for Nancy. Scream for him. Scream for help. But he couldn’t help her. He was already slipping into unconsciousness. An unconsciousness of which he wouldn’t wake up again until his mom and Hopper found him._

_He made it out. But Barb didn’t. Because she was trying to save him._

“Did I kill Barb, Nancy? Was it my fault?”

“No! No! Not at all! God, Will! None of this was your fault, trust me!” Nancy demanded, inching closer to Will’s hospital bed. “It was her choice to risk her life… and, at the risk of sounding horrible, I’m glad she did, Will. Because if she wasn’t out there as a distraction, then the Demogorgon could have found you both, and then we’d be left with no one. Do you understand me? It was not your fault.”

Will could feel the tears brim in his eyes at the memories. Nancy leant forward and wrapped the small boy in a hug.

“Thank you for telling me, Will. Now I know at least she died a hero.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank for reading!


End file.
